Liam Manning has been left “frustrated” after Swansea City’s opener wasn’t ruled out for a foul on Max O’Leary. And the Robins boss believes VAR could be of use in the Championship.
It was an exciting contest at the Swansea.com Stadium with the entertaining encounter coming to life when Ben Cabango met Jisung Eom’s corner to open the scoring within 15 minutes. But it’s a goal full of controversy, with replay’s showing Swans forward Ronald grabbing the City number one on his goal-line.
However, referee Andrew Kitchen waved away the protests from O’Leary, who felt aggrieved by the decision.
Manning was left disappointed that referee Kitchen failed to rule out the Swans’ opening goal and was adamant there was a clear foul on the 27-year-old for the goal.
“Their goal is hugely frustrating because we have a pre-season meeting with the Football League and the referees to say blocks and things like that are going to be given. The block on Max is frustrating. It’s quite clear for me.
“When you see it back and see it from numerous angles, Max is trying to get free but it’s quite difficult when someone’s got a hold of you. Frustrating but you get them and you don’t get them and then it’s how you respond to that.
“There’s no point (speaking to the referee) to be totally honest, they aren’t going to change or do anything. We’ll send in our report, we’ll get a response – which I can guess what it’s going to say – and nothing’s going to change.”
It’s not the first incident to cause controversy in the Championship this weekend after Norwich City’s opening goal against Derby County on Saturday seemingly went out of play in the build-up to Borja Sainz’s first goal.
And when asked whether Manning would be interested in VAR being introduced in the second tier, he added, “It’s a fine line. You look at Derby vs Norwich yesterday (on Saturday). There’s pros of VAR and I’m sure there’s a lot of negatives around it as well.
“For me, I want contact but when it’s that glaringly obvious, you have to give it (the foul). I don’t want a passive game, I want people to be aggressive and in contact and block within the laws of the game. But, it’s when it comes away from that and you can see it’s a clear foul.
“It’s getting to a stage where (VAR) would probably help it. There’s cons to it and there’s a huge amount of pros but when you look at key decisions and dictating outcomes of games it’s a huge part of that.”